We Australians love to reflect on our good fortune, on the things that make our country special and precious and among the best places in the world to live. For example, that we get to breathe some of the cleanest air in the world. How good is that?
At first glance there seems no good reason to wait a year to change the rules for selling painkillers containing codeine.
We can't argue against the fence around Parliament House in Canberra, because we don't know what the security agencies advocating it know.
In this fierce contest between sports, many codes will lose fans and finances. The winners, though, will be fans.
They are unscarred by the anger and hurt caused by disappointments, bad decisions or broken promises. They lack a deflating knowledge of the fears and frustrations that accompany grown-ups through life.
A mix of solutions is needed for a problem created by a complex interplay of factors beyond housing supply.
With interest rates at record lows, governments should take on so-called "good debt" to build productive assets then sell them off later. And plenty of super funds would be interested in the new project.
Here we are in the busiest shopping week of the year. We are spending billions - $48.1 billion to be precise, according to retailers' predictions - on gifts for each other, on food and drink to load up our Christmas tables, and on bars, restaurants and fast food to celebrate the festive season. Thursday is expected to be the busiest day of the week, but peak frenzy will be the fifteen minutes after 1pm on Friday, according to the National Australia Bank, which expects to process 360 transactions per second in that brief interlude. To avoid the rush, shoppers are advised to brave the aisles in the early morning or late afternoons.
The magnitude of the adjustment required of the economy is still not widely understood.
Is the state a tinderbox? That time of year has arrived and along with it, disagreements as to where, how much and when fuel reduction burns should take place.
The question is often whether a preference to support public education and the local community is strong enough, and whether the neighbourhood comprehensive high school is still the best option.
There is a mood for change in the world. Let that mood be expressed in Australia in a confident, optimistic way by a move towards a republic.
Justice was done – and was seen to be done.
The US President-elect's links to Russia are of significant concern.
It's been a rough year for the Baird government. But the latest Half-Yearly Review which updates the state's financial position provides us with the opportunity to step back and look more broadly at the 'core' of how the government travelling.
Countless people will die in the final assault on Aleppo as diplomats work for a breakthrough in Geneva.
Look at last week's appalling capitulation on constructive climate policy debate to see how dysfunctional and beholden to the Abbott right that the government purportedly led by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has become.
Good intelligence can make police decision-making more efficient and effective ,but the consequences of flawed intelligence can be devastating – and not just for individuals.
Australia needs a policy circuit-breaker to find economic drivers to replace the mining investment boom. Despite claims of agility and innovation from the Turnbull government, they haven't emerged yet largely because so many proposals are ruled out on purely political grounds.
While we oppose the extended bottle shop trading, the boost for live entertainment venues which serve alcohol responsibly is welcome.
Absent the diplomatic reality and risks to stability in Asia, Donald Trump's brazen break with protocol reveals some home truths about Beijing.
The media loves a debate; it thrives on the vigorous interplay of competing views. But we have to say, there's one debate that has dragged on quite long enough. We are long overdue for reform on media ownership laws.
Mr Key was honest with the New Zealand people when he made the shock announcement that his drive had slowed after eight years in the top job.
This has been the Baird government's annus horribilis.
Nothing says hot days are coming more than the launch of the much hyped summer movie blockbuster. While Australians flock to cinemas not just as a way to escape the heat, we also go to escape from the daily grind and to be entranced by stories. But increasingly, this year at least, we've been drawn to films not made on our own shores.The  top three grossing films  in 2016 in this country came out of Hollywood: Captain America: Civil War, Finding Dory and Zootopia, all made by Disney.
We are still waiting for the Prime Minister to reach his potential.
The growing fear of regional torpor and the backlash against conventional politics bring potentially self-defeating solutions, like a lurch back into protectionism.
Creating a viable cycling culture in Sydney is not just about building bike paths, but also about building a culture of respect on the roads. That's a job for us all.
The appointments is a news legal story in a minefield of bad ones for the Turnbull government and Attorney-General George Brandis.
With Fidel Castro gone, what can we hope for Cuba? We can hope for better.
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